Christopher Innes-forelæsninger
Bertolt Brecht – Theory – Plays – Practice
Onsdag 13/10 kl. 11 – 14 Lokale 21.1.47
Torsdag 14/10 kl. 11 – 14 Lokale 21.0.47
Fredag 15/10 kl. 11 – 14 Lokale 21.1.47
Den canadiske teaterprofessor Christopher Innes hører til inden for eliten af international teater-forskning.
Han er en meget bredt funderet forsker og forfatter til adskillige værker om moderne teater bl.a.: Broadway to Main Street: Designing Modern America (2005), Modern British Drama – The Twen-tieth Century (2002), Edward Gordon Craig: a Vision of Theatre (1998), Avant Garde Theatre 1892-1992 (1994) og Erwin Piscator’s Political Theatre: The Development of Modern German Drama (1972).
Christopher Innes besidder den ” The Canada Research Chair in Performance & Culture” og præ-senterer sit arbejde på denne hjemmeside: http://130.63.63.23/crc/about/index.php
Christopher Innes er en tilbagevendende gæst på Institut for Kunst- og Kulturvidenskab.
I efterårssemestret giver han i uge 41 en serie på tre forelæsninger: Bertolt Brecht – Theory – Plays – Practice der henvender sig både til teatervidenskabsstuderende på 2. år (eksamen som for-dybelsesemne eller tværfagligt emne) og overbygning samt til øvrige interesserede studerende fra fag på både IKK og andre institutter.
Christopher Innes præsenterer selv sit forløb således:
Course Outline:
As one of the most radical and influential theatre figures of the twentieth century – playwright, poet, theorist and director – Brecht deserves in-depth understanding. The aim of his theatre was to change the world politically, and to do so Brecht changed the theatre. For him there were always three in-terconnecting levels: theories connecting politics with theatrical performance; the plays on which these theories were built and which developed out of these theories; and the stage productions of his work, which he directed in ways designed to unite his plays with his theories.
This triple interconnection forms the structure and perspective for this short course.
We will begin by discussing his theoretical writings (collected in Brecht on Theatre/Om Tidens Te-ater)) and their connections to the politics of the period as well as to the social context of Germany in the 1920-30s and the immediate postwar period.
We will then analyse a selection of plays to see to what extent these principles actually apply: one of Brecht’s Lehrstücke or “Teaching Plays” (The Exception and the Rule), one of his parable plays (The Caucasian Chalk Circle), and Mother Courage.
In the final class we will consider his practice as a director, his actor training and the evidence of the “Model Books” documenting his productions of his plays.
The course will be taught in English, and the books to which reference is made in class will be the English translations. But students should feel free to also read the texts in the original German – or in Danish translation.
The books will be available in the library, and students are expected to have read the books on the Primary List before the class begins.
Primary Reading List:
Brecht, Bertolt. Schriften zum Theater. Frankfurt-a-M: Suhrkamp 1963 / John Willett, Brecht on Theatre: the Development of an Aesthetic. New York: Hill & Wang 1974.
Dansk oversættelse: Om Tidens Teater. Gyldendal 1966 eller senere
[with particular attention to:
Modern theatre is Epic theatre / Det moderne teater er det episke teater
The Literarization of the Theatre / Litterariserung af teatret
Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction / Blot-til lyst teater eller belærende teater
The Street Scene / Gadescenen
—————- Die Ausnahme und die Regel / The Exception and the Rule, in The Measures Taken and Other Lehrstücke, trans. Carl R. Müller. London: Methuen, 1977.
Dansk oversættelse: Undtagelsen og reglen. Enten i Bille, Steen (red.) Brechts lærestykker. Teater for fremtiden. Drama1981 eller i Forhøret over Lucullus/Undtagelsen og Reg-len (Gyldendal 1965)
—————- Die Kaukasische Kreidekreis / The Caucasian Chalk Circle – in Parables for the Theatre, trans. Eric Bentley. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1973.
Dansk oversættelse: Den kaukasiske kridtcirkel, oversat af Carl Nyholm (Gyldendal 1963)
—————- Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder / Mother Courage, trans. Eric Bentley. London: Methuen’s Modern Plays, 1962 / New York: Grove, 1991.
Dansk oversættelse: Mutter Courage og hendes børn, oversat af Ivan Malinovski (Gyldendal 1961 eller senere)
Other Reading:
Brecht, Bertolt. The Messingkauf Dialogues, trans. John Willett. London: Methuen, 1965
Fuegi, John. Bertolt Brecht: Chaos According to Plan. Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Weigel, Helene, Berliner Ensemble. Theaterarbeit: 6 Aufführungen des Berliner Ensembles. Berlin: Henschelverlag, 1968.